HER SECRET, HIS DUTY

by Carla Cassidy

  Sam’s hands relaxed. “Either that or he was just a thug trying to make a name for himself and he just added in that bit about a bullet to the head business to make us believe he was nothing more than a hired gun.”

  Sam threw himself into one of the nearby chairs. “Hell, she hasn’t even formally declared yet and already somebody is trying to kill her.”

  “At this point we can’t be sure exactly who the target was,” Trey replied, also sitting down in a chair near Sam.

  “Who else would the target be?” Sam asked, looking at Trey as if he’d lost his mind.

  “Maybe rumor had gotten out that you’ve been a real cranky ass to live with and Mom actually hired that man to put you out of your own misery,” Trey said with a teasing tone.

  “Ha ha, very funny,” Sam replied.

  “Okay, then Thad could have been the target because of his police work, or me because I’ve declared my intentions to run for senator.” He paused a moment, his chest burning with anxiety. “Or the target could have been Debra. She’s already been targeted by somebody twice. Maybe this was a final attempt to get rid of her.”

  Sam drew a deep breath and fell back into the chair. “What a mess.”

  “I suggest we both do what Mom said and head into bathrooms to check ourselves for glass,” Trey replied.

  Definitely a mess, Trey thought as he went in one direction and Sam disappeared in another. Somebody had just missed being shot and even though they had the shooter in custody Trey wasn’t feeling optimistic that any agency would be able to get any real information out of the creep.

  Was it possible that this would make his mother change her mind about running for president? Somehow Trey believed that if anything this would make her more resolute to follow through on her plans.

  Trey knew that beneath Kate’s pleasant exterior beat the heart of a warrior and a will of steel. She knew the dangers the office held and he had a feeling she would still be just as determined to make a run for the White House.

  What he needed to do was talk to Thad and bring up the fact that it was possible the target wasn’t Kate at all, but rather Debra.

  Debra.

  His heart filled with the newly realized love he felt for her. Yes, everything was a mess. A man had just shot to kill somebody seated at the table and he was in love with a woman who apparently didn’t love him back, a woman who might have been the intended victim of the shooting.

  * * *

  Debra sat on the toilet lid as Maddie used tweezers to pick pieces of glass from her hair and off her sweater. Maddie had already cleaned the blood off her face and Debra had sat like a child being ministered to by a loving mother.

  She knew that she was in a little bit of shock because everything felt surreal. Her heart had finally found a normal rhythm after having beat nearly right out of her chest.

  Everything that had happened to her—the mad drive in the middle of the night with no brakes, the fire that had occurred in her house—both seemed like mere nuisances when compared to what had just happened.

  Somebody had shot a gun with the intent to kill. It was only by chance that Thad had seen the man in the tree and his warning shout had apparently made the gunman lose his aim.

  Who had he been aiming at?

  Who had been his target?

  The logical answer would be Kate, but Debra couldn’t stop the idea that kept coming back into her head, the idea that the target had been her. A shiver worked through her.

  “Are you cold?” Maddie asked with concern. “Would you like a blanket or something around your shoulders while I finish up?”

  “No, I’m fine. I’m just suffering from a little bit of post-traumatic stress. I don’t think I’ve ever been quite so frightened.”

  “You just need to relax now. You’re safe and at least they caught the man. Besides, it’s not good for your baby for you to be so stressed out.”

  Debra nearly laughed. Her baby wouldn’t know how to exist without stress. Debra had been mentally frazzled since the moment she’d taken those three pregnancy tests. God, that felt like years ago. So much had happened in the past four weeks.

  The thought that she was losing her mind, the crash of her car, the fire in her house... The only good thing that had happened was that since the new security system had been installed nothing in her home had disappeared only to reappear later.

  Still, the idea that somebody had enjoyed free access to her home to try to drive her crazy and then had moved to more deadly means of getting rid of her would haunt her until somebody had been caught and jailed for the offenses.

  “There, I think we got them all,” Maddie said as she stepped back from Debra. On the vanity counter on a paper towel were about a dozen slivers of glass in various sizes.

  Maddie took Debra’s chin and raised her face so that she could look into Debra’s eyes. “Are you sure you’re okay, honey? Maybe a nice hot cup of tea would help calm you down a bit.”

  “That sounds wonderful,” Debra agreed as she got up from her sitting position. “And thank you, Maddie, for taking such good care of me.”

  Maddie smiled. “That’s what I do. I take care of Winstons.” She swept up the paper with the glass in her hands and then left the bathroom.

  But I’m not a Winston, Debra thought as she stared at her reflection in the mirror over the sink. She looked shell-shocked, her hair a mess, her eyes too big and still filled with the terror that had momentarily made it impossible to move away from the shattered table.

  Trey had virtually thrown himself across what was left of the table to get to her and pulled her to the ground where he’d covered her body with his, protecting her from harm.

  No, not her, but their baby. He’d been protecting his baby from harm. She just happened to be carrying that baby. She left the bathroom, unsure if she wanted the cup of tea or not.

  What she really wanted was to be at the townhouse, safe within the walls of her highly secured home. What she wanted was to know who was behind the attacks on her, who was responsible for wanting her to believe that she was going crazy.

  Trey met her in the hall, his eyes dark and his expression radiating concern. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked.

  She nodded. “It was just a small cut. Maddie got it to stop bleeding and I’m perfectly fine.” She raised a hand to tuck her hair behind her ear and knew the tremble of her hand belied her words.

  “Okay, so I’m not so fine,” she admitted. “I’m definitely shaken up and Maddie is making me a cup of tea to calm my nerves.”

  “Then let’s go to the kitchen and have a cup of tea.” He took her by the elbow, his touch gentle and warm.

  They entered the huge kitchen and went directly to the small table where Sam often sat to have his morning coffee.

  “Just in time. Maddie told me you would be in for a nice cup of tea,” Myra said, and set a cup in front of Debra. “Do you want sugar? Lemon? And do you want a cup, too, Trey?”

  “No, thanks, I’m good.”

  “And this is fine for me. Thanks, Myra.” Debra wrapped her hands around the heat of the cup in an attempt to warm the cold places that had found a home inside her during the past thirty minutes.

  For a few moments she and Trey sat in silence. Debra sipped her tea and looked out the window where a number of security agents were gathered in front of the guesthouse.

  Somebody’s head would roll for the breach in security, she thought. “I wouldn’t want to be the agent in charge of security for that quadrant of the yard.”

  Trey followed her gaze and then looked back at her. “Somebody will figure it out. I just thank God that Thad saw the guy before he managed to hurt somebody.”

  Debra took a sip of her tea and then returned the cup to the saucer. “You know it’s possible it wasn’t about your mother.”
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  He held her gaze and in the depths of his troubled eyes she realized the thought had already crossed his mind. “We can’t jump the gun. We don’t know who the target was supposed to be right now.”

  “But you understand that given everything that has happened to this point in time, it’s very possible I was the target.” Just saying the words out loud leeched any warmth she might have gained back out of her body.

  She shoved the cup of tea aside. “What I’d really like to do right now is go home.” Tears burned at her eyes and blurred her vision as she stared down at the table. “I just want to go home,” she repeated softly.

  “Then I’ll take you home.” Trey stood and touched her shoulder.

  “But my car is here.”

  “Debra, I’d feel better under the circumstances if I drive you home. You’re still upset and I can always bring you back here for work in the morning and you’ll have your car here to drive home tomorrow night.”

  She nodded and stood. She was grateful that he was taking charge, that she didn’t have to drive herself. Sometimes it was better to allow somebody else to take care of things and this was definitely one of those times. She’d been taking care of herself for her entire life and just for a little while she wanted to abdicate control.

  They were escorted to Trey’s car by two agents with guns drawn and gazes narrowed and focused on their surroundings. Debra felt as if she had entered an action film set. Surreal. How had her life gotten so dramatic, so intense?

  She breathed a sigh of relief as Trey pulled out of the driveway and away from the estate. “I have to say, Kate sure knows how to put on an exciting breakfast.”

  “Let’s hope we never have one as exciting as this one again,” Trey replied. “The shooter, you didn’t recognize him, did you?”

  “No, I’m fairly sure I’ve never seen him before in my life, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t hired by somebody to kill me.” The words created an almost physical pain inside her. The idea that somebody hated her so much was unbelievable.

  “Keep in mind that we don’t know that this attack was about you,” Trey said.

  “I understand that. I get that your mother might have political enemies, but we both know I have an enemy, too, and maybe that person has given up trying to kill me and make it look like an accident.”

  “Thad will be checking it out along with the Secret Service,” he replied. “I intend to talk to Thad about the fact that this might have been an attempt on you and not on Mom.”

  Debra stared out the side window. “It just all feels so horrible, to know that there’s somebody out there who wants me dead. I’ve never done anything to anyone. I’ve never harmed anyone. Who could have such hatred for me?”

  “I wish I knew, Debra.”

  They were silent for the remainder of the ride and she was grateful for the quiet. She still was trying to process what had happened, how quickly a lovely family toast could have turned into a complete and utter tragedy.

  When Trey pulled up to the curb in front of her townhouse, he shut off the engine and then turned to look at her. “Stay put,” he said.

  She watched as he got out of the driver side and then came around to her side of the car and opened her door. He instantly pulled her out of the seat and surrounded her with his own body.

  Awkwardly they made their way to the front door, him like a shield wrapped around her back. She was tense, expecting a gunshot at any moment or a knife-wielding maniac to jump out of the bushes nearby.

  She didn’t relax until they were safely inside the house with the security on. She collapsed onto the sofa and Trey sank down next to her. It only took a simple touch from him and she was in his arms, crying out the stress and fear as he held her tight and murmured words of comfort.

  Her crying jag lasted only a couple of minutes and then she sat up and wiped the tears from her face. “I’m okay now. I just needed to get that out.”

  He smiled at her. “My mother always said that a good cry never hurt anyone.” He leaned back against the sofa cushion. “So I guess there’s no Sunday specialty cooking planned for today.”

  “I’m thinking dinner is going to be something nice and easy,” she replied.

  “Maybe you should put something in your stomach now,” he suggested. “I noticed you didn’t eat much earlier.”

  It was obvious he was in no hurry to leave and she wasn’t sure she wanted him to go just yet. Nerves still jangled through her and the horror of the morning lingered.

  “A bowl of soup might be good,” she replied. She pulled herself up from the sofa and he followed suit.

  “Why don’t you just go into the kitchen and sit at the table and I can handle the soup,” he said.

  She thought about protesting, but instead merely nodded. “Thank you, I appreciate it. I’m still feeling just a little bit shaky.”

  Together they went into the kitchen where Debra took a seat at the table and Trey moved to the pantry where she stored her canned goods.

  “I see chicken noodle, tomato and split pea.” He looked back at her and made a face. “You don’t really eat that split-pea stuff, do you?”

  She laughed, unable to help herself at his look of utter disgust. “Actually I do and I love it. But I think a bowl of chicken noodle will be just fine, and open two cans if you’d like some, too.”

  “Maybe I’ll just do that,” he replied as he grabbed a saucepan from the baker’s rack.

  “Wouldn’t you rather be back at the estate checking on the investigation instead of here babysitting me?” she asked, suddenly feeling guilty for taking up his time.

  “The Secret Service will take over any investigation so there’s really nothing I can do there. Thad will have his nose in things and will let me know of any breaking news.”

  He paused to use the can opener and poured the contents of the two soup cans into the saucepan. “Besides, I can’t think of anyplace else I’d rather be right now than here with you eating canned soup.”

  He placed the saucepan on a stove burner and turned it on and then dug into her silverware drawer for a big spoon. She stared out the window and wished he wouldn’t say things like that to her. He shouldn’t be so nice to her. He made her want more than what he’d ever be able to offer to her.

  She shouldn’t have even let him come inside. This whole scene was a little too domestic for her taste. It brought up the yearning for it to be real, for them to be together as a true couple.

  As he stirred the soup, Debra found her gaze wandering around the room, looking everywhere but at him. It was bad enough that she could smell his familiar cologne, a scent she thought she’d never get out of her mind.

  She frowned as she spied something under the edge of one of her lower cabinets. Had she dropped something that had rolled there? She couldn’t imagine what it was, but it appeared to hold a touch of sparkle.

  “What are you doing?” he asked as she got up from her chair.

  “There’s something here on the floor under the cabinet.” She bent down and grabbed it, then stood and opened her hand. It was an earring. A diamond and ruby earring that she’d never seen before in her life.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s an earring, but it isn’t mine.” She looked at him in confusion.

  Trey stepped away from the stove to see what she held. His face paled and he stumbled backward a step.

  “Trey? What’s wrong?” Debra’s heart began to pound as she saw the odd look on his face as he stared at the piece of jewelry.

  “I know that earring. I bought a pair of them for Cecily.”

  Debra frowned. “How would one of Cecily’s earrings get into my kitchen?” She gasped in stunned surprise as the realization of who was behind the attacks on her became apparent by the piece of expensive jewelry she held in her hand.


  Chapter 16

  Trey stared at Debra for a long moment, trying to make sense of the earring she held in her hand. They were an unusual design and unmistakable. He specifically remembered purchasing them five months before and surprising Cecily with them over dinner at La Palace. Since that time she had worn them often.

  Had she worn them when she’d set the fire in this house? Had they adorned her ears when she’d been moving cups and shifting around items to make Debra doubt her own sanity?

  Cecily?

  His mind boggled with the irrefutable evidence that she’d been inside Debra’s home. Cecily had been behind everything. He couldn’t seem to wrap his mind around it.

  “I understand if she was angry when she found out I was pregnant with your child, but most of the terrible things that happened occurred before anyone knew I was pregnant by you,” Debra said thoughtfully. “Why would she try to hurt me when she didn’t know anything about us?”

  “I need to call Thad,” Trey said as he fumbled his phone out of his pocket. “If she’s responsible for everything that’s happened to you then she needs to be arrested and charged.”

  As he punched in the number to connect him with his brother, Debra moved the saucepan and turned off the stove. “Thad.” He was surprised that his voice shook with tension as he heard his brother answer the phone. “Can you get over to Debra’s townhouse? I think we’ve found the source of the attacks on her.”

  With Thad’s assurance that he’d be right over, Trey sank down at the table, still stunned by this new development. Debra sat down next to him, the earring on the table between them.

  “I’m sorry, Trey,” she said softly.

  He looked at her incredulously. “Why are you sorry?”

  “Because I know you cared about her, that you had intended to make her your wife. I’m sorry because I know that if what we believe is true you have to be hurting.”

  “Hurting?” He stood and slammed his hands down on the table. “I’m so angry right now she’s lucky she isn’t here in front of me. I knew she had a cold streak inside her, but I had no idea the evil that she has to possess to do what she’s apparently done.”